“Since the beginning of 2026, Ukraine’s Defence Forces have regained control of more than 600 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory,” Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi stated. In May alone, the Unmanned Systems Forces struck 88,000 enemy targets, while Deep Strike operations hit 111 strategic facilities, ranging from defence-industrial enterprises to Russia’s energy infrastructure.
As a result, Russia is experiencing growing logistical difficulties in the occupied territories of Ukraine: fuel rationing has been introduced in Crimea, and the peninsula’s much-publicised tourist season has effectively been disrupted. While these achievements are largely the result of the efforts of Ukrainian drone and missile developers, as well as the country’s military personnel, it is important to acknowledge that Ukraine would hardly have achieved such results without international military support.
Over the past eighteen months, the landscape of international military assistance provided to Ukraine by its allies has changed significantly. Today, it consists of dozens of programmes and mechanisms (including PDA, USAI, PURL, and ERA), political compromises, and intense behind-the-scenes negotiations.
What determines the pace and scale of military assistance to Ukraine? In an op-ed for Ukrainska Pravda, NAKO Researcher Oleksandr Veherzhynskyi and NAKO Communications Manager Kateryna Besedina examine the key factors shaping international support.